Time’s ‘State of the American Woman’ Completely Ignores Lesbians

happy-family ALL THE HAPPY LADIES:According to TIME Magazine‘s State of the American Women, our struggles are practically over, because “it’s expected that by the end of the year, for the first time in history the majority of workers in the U.S. will be women — largely because the downturn has hit men so hard.” Despite that disclaimer, the article continues heralding women’s increased workplace visibility as evidence of our triumphs over gender discrimination. [The not-so-awesome truth of this factoid is: 1) Wall Street, notoriously void of women, suffered the biggest losses during the recession, 2) Women are cheaper to employ and less likely to demand better wages than their male  counterparts, 3) Women are more likely to work in recession-proof underpaid industries like teaching and nursing.]  The entire issue is a mess of contradictions, from the depressing cover referencing this ridiculously dubious study to the encouraging article subheader within the magazine: “A quiet revolution has changed the status of American women; so what’s new now?”

state-of-women

Despite an onslaught of not incredibly encouraging statistics, TIME concludes its cover story with: “It’s no longer a man’s world. Nor is it a woman’s nation. It’s a cooperative, with bylaws under constant negotiation and expectations that profits be equally shared.”

In order to complete this fascinating compilation of facts, figures and Getty Stock Imagery referencing how far we’ve come, TIME and the Rockefeller Center conducted a Seriously Heteronormative Poll about women to answer big questions like; can women juggle husbands and careers? Let’s take a gander.

Highlights:

– Being married is very important to 58% of men vs. 53% of women.

– 29% of men say that female bosses are harder to work for than male bosses, compared with 45% of women.

– Fifty-seven percent of men and 51% of women agree that it is better for a family if the father works outside the home and the mother takes care of the children.

– Two-thirds of both men and women describe their marriage or partnership as very happy. (Here’s another one for ‘ya — 95% of gay men and women describe their marriage as “illegal.” I just made that one up, but who cares, according to the statistical sample of me & my friends, it’s more like 100%.)

OH WAIT JUST KIDDING. Lesbians are mentioned!! Once! In Maria Shriver’s essay, “The Unfinished Revolution,” which broaches the revolutionary topic that perhaps not EVERYTHING is perfect for ladies quite yet, we’re treated to this little snippet:

And lesbian couples and older women are among the poorest segments of our society.

Thanks, Maria! I can add you to the list of “those responsible for businesspeople not understanding what an untapped market lesbians are who consequently enable people like Ilene Chaiken to monopolize it!” Actually, the median household income for lesbian couples living together is $90,000. And the reason lesbians rank low on some surveys is simply ’cause they’re two WOMEN, which brings us right back around to where we started from.

Regardless, when poverty is the only context in which we factor in to an entire issue dedicated to how women have revolutionized the world since the 70s? Suck it, TIME.

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"You need special clothes to MEDIDATE?" says low-earner Tina

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Riese

Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3251 articles for us.

16 Comments

  1. Articles like these make me nervous for some reason. While I love being a women, I like to ignore statistics w/r/t gender and or sexuality. It depresses me. I just want equality! argh can’t we all just get along.

    • Articles like this make me nervous b/c a lot of girls are gonna see this on their parents coffee table, sending the message that not only are we already done with the fight for equality but that this fight has made us all depressed!

  2. I LOVE this post. Your writing is very engaged and smart and I absolutely agree with you. Thanks for this.

    • Thanks for reading and liking! I write so much content these days that it’s good to hear that I still make sense and sound intelligent!

  3. along with being really straight, that TIME article’s also really WHITE. and i’m tired of this pseudo-post-feminist “we’ve arrived” thing. WHO’S ARRIVED. EVERYONE HAS NOT ARRIVED.

    • I believe you must have missed the stock photograph of the Asian “Working Mother” at a computer with her precocious baby looking through the paperwork in the “Working Mothers Are Broadly Accepted” section and the stock photograph of an African-American family illustrating how “daily life is a story of diplomacy under stress.” The mother is ironing.

      I think the female staff of TIME magazine has arrived. Which doesn’t surprise me.

    • also, can we talk about the very teenage-myspace-i-think-pictures-of-eyes-very-up-close-are-artistic quality of the cover shot? i mean, i wouldn’t complain except that whoever took it probably got paid more for it than I will this year.

  4. There was a time when I would have been outraged, furious and fighting mad about Time Magazine’s “Special Report”, but now I am just sad, so very sad.
    Yet, I’m oh-so-proud of ‘Riese’, your writing and analysis makes a momma’ proud.

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